Don't believe everything you read
by Barracade
Summary: Trying to find a good story to put in the newspaper can be tough. But what will happen when you have a notorious villian on your side?


"This story started around two weeks ago. I was just a girl looking for a scoop for my journalism class. I, being a journalist in training, figured that I find the best there can be, and I had finally found it! The legendary scoop I was seeking. I was walking down a hallway at the college, when it hit me."

One girl and a boy were walking down the hall talking to each other they seemed to be in a deep discussion.

"I have no idea what I'm going to do for the project in my journalism class, Malachi" the girl said. The boy put his hand to his chin in thought.

"Well, you know that I can't help you. I guess you're on your own." Malachi said with a shrug.

"But Malachi," She whined, "Can't you think of something?"

"You could write another critique" Malachi supplied.

"I did that last week, besides Monica is writing one." She sighed, "Anything else?"

"Well," Malachi began but they were interrupted by a paper slapping the girl in the face.

"Ouch" she said as she grabbed the paper. Malachi laughed.

"Are you ok, Ellinore?" Malachi asked between fits of laughter. Ellinore playfully glared at him and lightly slapped him on the arm.

"Yeah I am just peachy" Ellinore said grumpily as she held up the paper to read what it had said.

"What's it say Ellinore?" Malachi asked, but only received silence from his companion. "Ellinore? Earth to Ellinore," Malachi frowned. "Ella, what does it say," now that got a reaction.

Ellinore looked at him, "don't call me Ella," she huffed, "anyways, read it for yourself." She handed it to Malachi.

"Now let's see" he murmured to himself as he read the paper. He looked at her with questioning eyes, "I don't know Ella, seems kind of peculiar to me."

"Well, I need a scoop. So now I can use this! I've got it now!" She cheered as she snapped her finger. Malachi thought that, if this were a cartoon, a lightbulb would've shone over her head. "Hey, don't call me Ella!"

"Alright Ellinore, just be careful ok?" Malachi reasoned. Ellinore nodded.

"Yeah I will, anyways I got to go. Have a scoop to find!" She said as she went in a different direction. Malachi sighed.

"Now what class was I going to next? Actually, I think its lunch" Malachi smiled to himself as he went down the hall.

…..

"So let's see here. This map will lead me to treasure it says. _"Lend an ear to what you can hear, this quest I detest. But it might be for the best, if I gave you a little test. Follow this map bring the case to a wrap. Search diligently, the truth may be revealed."_ Hmmm, what's that supposed to mean? And it stops rhyming halfway through." she hummed to herself.

Roaming the park Ellinore tries to find what the 'X' on the map means. There wasn't going to be just some big fat random X in the park, "wait, what's that!" Ellinore said in disbelief as she looked at a giant red X on the ground she eagerly approaches it and finds a note. "Now let's see here," she murmurs as she holds the note up. "I knew you'd find the X, now I have a riddle for you, _'What has bars like a prison, is noisy like a barn, and never has the same inventory twice?"_ Try your best to find out, that's where your next clue will be.

"What" Ellinore asked the tattered paper. She pulled out her phone and clicked on her brother's picture easily dialing him.

"Hey sis, did you find your lead?" Malachi asked while he wiped his mouth with his sleeve. (Although she couldn't see that)

"Not yet, but I found another note" Ellinore said as she brandished the note giving it an odd look. She heard him hum with confusion through the phone.

"Well, what does it say?" he goaded. Ellinore sighed.

"It has a riddle, want me to read it to you," she asked with what seemed to be a rhetorical question as she didn't wait for a reply, "It says; 'What has bars like a prison, is noisy like a barn, and never has the same inventory twice?" she quoted leaving an unsaid question for her brother.

"This seems kinda fishy, sis." He paused, "but they might be talking about the zoo? It has bars and is noisy" Malachi suggested.

Ellinore visibly stirred with a happy grin "good idea, bro, I'll head right over there!"

"Just be careful Ellinore, there's something not right about this." Malachi glared as he heard Ellinore scoff through the phone. "Ella, this isn't funny. Now go on before I come and find you" Malachi threatened as Ellinore laughed.

"Alright, see ya later bro. Got a scoop to catch!" Ellinore quickly hung up the phone after hearing his muttered reply. "He's so grumpy" Ellinore said to herself as she headed in the direction of the zoo.

"Here we are!" Ellinore said to herself proudly as she looked at the gates of the zoo. Looking left than right she walked into the zoo after paying for a ticket. "Now let's look at the map next to the riddle." She muttered to herself as she held up the page. "Hold on," she said, "this map looks way too small to be the whole zoo." And indeed the map was the size of a medium sized house, did this mean that she was in the wrong place. "Oh I know they're talking about the reptile exhibit" she said and with a spring in her step she headed towards the reptile exhibit.

Upon reaching there, however, she looked everywhere but couldn't find a slip of paper or anything of value. Soon she realized that this was the wrong place.

"Excuse me" a person said and Ellinore turned around. It was one of the workers she had on the workers outfit and had a green nametag labeling her as 'Vanessa.'

"Uh, Hello" Ellinore said nervously.

"Excuse me, but, are you lost?" Vanessa said her eyebrows creasing in question.

"A little bit," she admitted, "I was just following this riddle and figured I had to come here." Ellinore nervously shuffled the paper and handed it to the employee who searched the papers vigorously.

"Um, I think he's talking about the pet shop" Vanessa said after perusing through the papers. Ellinore face palmed.

"How did I miss that!?" She cried out. The employee shook her head.

"I don't know, it's just a suggestion. Well, good luck" and after she said that Ellinore dashed off with a loud 'thanks.' The employee sighed. "I wonder what that girl got herself into" she said to herself as she grabbed the food for the reptiles.

Ellinore walked along the sidewalks as she looked left and right for the town's only pet shop. "It has to be around here somewhere" she murmured to herself. "Aha!" she cried out as she pointed at aforementioned pet shop. She dashed towards the pet shop and almost tripped over her own feet but skidded to a halt at the door. Noticing the open sign she grinned eagerly as she opened the door.

Looking into the pet shop she took in a whiff of pet food, along with a mixture of fresh plastic toys and the smell of animals. It was a small pet shop but it was organized well. There was a wall with the pet toys and the rows of cages holding the animals. Ellinore held up her map and immediately headed towards the back of the store and soon found the 'X' she was looking for. It seemed to be a sticker on the wall but there was a paper connected to it. Ellinore eagerly grabbed it and read it with rapt attention.

' _Congrats, you got the next clue, so anyways. I have deemed you worthy of finishing this quest! Hooray, you just need to find the location of the treasure. Here is your final riddle; 'the treasure rests in a land filled with pleasant smells, has an invigorating atmosphere, and gives life lessons all wrapped up in a nutshell. Where am I talking about? To claim your prize talk to the person at the entrance. Tell them 'X marks the spot' good luck."_

Ellinore stared blankly at the paper.

"Are you kidding me?" she said to herself incredulously. She sighed irritably. "Well where would this place be?" she asked herself as she walked out of the shop. She looked at the size of the map detailing how big said building was and realized it was bigger than the shop, but smaller than the college. It also had a strange layout. A lightbulb seemed to pop out over her head. "There's only one place with a layout like that.." She said with a disbelieving sigh. But nonetheless she headed in the direction of the one place that looks like that.

"Well here we are" she muttered to herself. She took a shuddering breath and walked inside.

"Hello, welcome to 'The Dragon' where would you like to sit?" an employee chirped to Ellinore. Ellinore looked at her then turned towards the door. After a moment of debating she approached the employee and sighed.

"X marks the spot" she said and the employee looked at her for a moment.

"Oh your that one person well here's what you're after" the employee said as she handed Ellinore an object. Ellinore looked at the object dubiously.

"Seriously, a fortune cookie?" she asked as she eyed her 'prize.' The employee nodded.

"Yup, that's it! Sorry, I must get to work" she said apologetically before she rushed into the back room. Ellinore looked stunned as she saw the disappointing cookie in her hand. She shrugged and left the building.

"Might as well see what it says." She said to herself as she opened the cookie. Popping the cookie in her mouth she lifted the paper to her eyes and face-palmed.

"What did it say!?" a boy sitting at his desk asked and Ellinore paused.

"what?" she asked as she was brought out of her story.

"What did it say, did it show you where the treasure was?" the boy asked elaborating. A few people from the class nodded their heads motioning that they wanted to know as well. At this Ellinore gave a sly smile at the group.

"It said 'Don't believe everything you read'" she said with a laugh.

…..

Ok, so my school work made me write a short story so I figured I could post this on Fanfiction. I am planning on making a few more chapters but I haven't worked on my other works because all time was dedicated to getting this done. Something I really didn't have the heart for, eh, oh well. Anyways this was inspired by the Phineas and Ferb episode where Candace is following the fortune cookies trying to 'bust' her brothers. Lol I like that episode, I digress, I will try to get more chapters of Cyborg2 and stuff like that. I have big plans for fanfiction! Anyways I hope you enjoyed this and as always,

Read on!

~Barracade


End file.
